Exeter filmmaker capturing the family feud

EXETER — Local filmmaker Jay Childs is the man behind the movie — the Market Basket movie, that is.

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By Jason Schreiber

seacoastonline.com

By Jason Schreiber

Posted Jul. 29, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Jason Schreiber

Posted Jul. 29, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

EXETER — Local filmmaker Jay Childs is the man behind the movie — the Market Basket movie, that is.

Childs is working on a documentary film appropriately titled "Arthur vs. Arthur."

It's a project he's been working on for a while, but it's been getting more attention ever since employees of the successful New England grocery store chain began their massive protest on July 18 when workers at headquarters walked off the job.

Workers are demanding the return of fired Market Basket president and CEO Arthur T. Demoulas and Childs has been there to film every angle.

"In terms of layers, this is absolutely one of the most fascinating stories I've ever seen," said Childs, an Exeter resident and Emmy-honored producer whose company, JBC Communications, is based in Portsmouth.

Childs grew up in Exeter and has followed the growth of Market Basket and the Demoulas family feud that has pit Arthur T. Demoulas against his rival cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas.

He's also been a Market Basket shopper.

"You've had this really efficient streamlined business and yet this family in turmoil, which was always kind of fascinating," the 49-year-old Childs said.

The idea for the project came a year ago when the wife of a friend who works at Market Basket told Childs he ought to make a film on the Demoulas family and its thriving grocery store business.

"Even as an immigrant business success story it's fascinating, but then you've got this feud happening between families which is fascinating, and so I started with that and then lo and behold all of this happened," Childs said.

Childs has been amazed by the way workers responded to Arthur T. when he attended rallies a year ago when the board attempted to oust him.

He has heard countless stories from workers who adore Arthur T. for the way he's treated them, their families and customers.

But he knows there are more sides to every story, and in this case, the movie.

"By the same token I fully intend to follow and invite representatives from the other side of the story. If I can get this film off the ground I will give them a full hearing. There are always two or three sides to a story. I want to tell a fair story. This is not a hit job," he said.

Up until the protests began, Childs said the story received little attention.

"This story is a metaphor represented in the same company in the same family by two guys who are named Arthur. It's a metaphor for these different business approaches that people who are working in the country today are having to navigate. You've got two different approaches to doing business that are in stark contrast to each other and that's playing out across the entire country and at the same time it's playing out within the same company within the same family with two guys named Arthur," Childs said.

The documentary is now trying to raise money on a crowdfunding Web site called Kickstarter. He's set a goal of $75,000 and had raised nearly $1,400 by Monday afternoon.

Childs has been working on the project unpaid for the past year, but now needs financial support to continue the research and hire a crew to take the film to the next level.

While describing the documentary on his Kickstarter page, Childs wrote about the significance of the Market Basket battle and what it could mean.

"The outcome will define the legacy of this family business and possibly the fate of a particular way of doing business in America. This is a timeless story and it is also a story situated right in this political and economic moment," he wrote.

With the protests continuing, Childs said he's not sure when the film will be ready for the big screen. He'd like to have it done and out to the public in six months to a year.